Method of making a furniture pedestal



Jan. 17, 1967 T ss 3,298,086

METHOD OF MAKING A FURNITURE PEDESTAL Filed Dec. 29, 1964 INVENTOR. GEORGE E. GASSER ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,298,086 METHOD OF MAKING A FURNITURE PEDESTAL George E. Gasser, Girard, Ohio, assignor to Gasser Chair Co., Inc., Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 421,970 2 Claims. (Cl. 29150) This invention relates to the general art of making pedestal supports, particularly for furniture, such as chairs and tables. The invention herein, although not limited to such particular use, is espeically applicable and finds its widest usefulness in making pedestal supports for swivel office chairs wherein the supports have outwardly flaring supporting and stabilizing legs and upwardly directed masts to which the chairs proper are swiveled. Provision is commonly made at the outer ends of the legs to swivably attach supporting casters and in the masts vertical openings or bores are commonly provided to rotatably receive studs on which the chairs proper are assembled.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved method of making a pedestal structure for the above outlined purposes which is rugged and durable, pleasing in design and capable of being manufactured at low cost and rapidly in large volume by the use of advanced manufacturing and/ or fabricating techniques. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the pedestal structure is built up of only two different kinds of structural sections, each of which may be primarily produced at low cost and at high speed by the extrusion process, preferably using aluminum as the base material. These sections are so formed that they may be assembled into a unitary rigid structure with a minimum of labor and expense but which nevertheless results in an end product of more pleasing design and greater strength and rigidity than has heretofore been accomplished in similar products.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of an ofiice swivel chair having a supporting base or pedestal which is constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III -III of FIGURE 1.

In FIGURE 1, reference numeral designates generally the novel supporting base or pedestal of my invention, and revolvably supported on this base or pedestal is the chair proper having a seat 11, a back rest 12, and arms 13. The base or pedestal 10 is comprised of four horizontally disposed supporting legs 14 and a centrally disposed mast 15 which is rigidly connected to the inner ends of the legs 14 in a manner to be hereinafter more fully described. Also, in accordance with usual practice, a swivel caster 16 mounts the outer end of each of the legs 14 and since these are conventional components they will not be further described except to point out that they commonly have an upwardly directed mounting shank 17 which is received within a vertical bore in the outer end of the pedestal leg.

In accordance with the principles and teachings of the present invention, each of the four legs 14 is identical and may be described as a vertical slab having an intermediate web 18, an integral anchor 19 at its inner end, and a rounded enlargement 20 at its outer end. This section, comprised of portions 18, 19 and 20 has the same cross-sectional shape and dimensions throughout its vertical extent, and thus the section may be readily extruded from aluminum, for example, with the individual legs being simply cut off from elongated extrusions of the section.

To lend an element of pleasing design to the supporting legs of the base or pedestal the section 14 may be curved as suggested in FIGURE 2 of the drawing. For maximum structural strength while yet practicing economy of metal the web or intermediate portion 18 of the section 14 is tapered in thickness with the widest end being adjacent the anchor 19 and the thinnest end being adjacent the end knob 20. Also, for both of these same reasons the individual legs are so cut from the indeterminate length of the extrusion that the bottom edge 21 of each leg is horizontal and parallel to the floor on which the chair or other object will be supported while the upper edge 22 of each leg slopes downward slightly from the inner end of the leg, all as shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 2, it will be noted that the anchor 19 is considerably thicker than any portion of the web 18, having arcuate side walls 23 extending outwardly a short distance from the side faces of the adjacent Web 18. The extreme inner end of the section 14 is formed of right-angularly related end walls 24 which come to a sharp apex, all as illustrated. During the extrusion process a bore 25 may be provided centrally within the knob 20 or, alternatively, this knob may be kept solid in the extrusion process and the bore 25 drilled during fabrication of the base or pedestal. It will be understood that the function of the bore 2.5 is to receive the mounting shank 17 of the swivel caster 16.

The mast 15 is likewise formed of a cutoff length of a metal extrusion, preferably aluminum, having the crosssectional shape and generally relative dimensions illustrated in FIGURE 3. This section 15 may be described as a thick-walled tube having a round interior bore 26. For ornamental purposes the outer surface of the section 15 may be squared as shown at 217 and fluted as shown at 28. The diameter of the bore 2 6 is such that when four of the legs 14 are assembled in cruciform relation, as shown in FIGURE 2, the discontinuous arcuate surfaces 23 of the legs will be snugly received within this bore 26.

To assemble the parts described above the lower end portion of the mast 15 is slotted longitudinally as at 29 at four locations equally spaced circumferentially. These slots accommodate the thicker end portions of the webs 1-8 which are adjacent to the anchors 19 with a snug sliding fit and are of a length substantially equal to the height of the legs at this point. The slots: 29 are suitably milled or otherwise formed in the mast 15 and after the parts are all thus prepared the inner ends or anchors of the legs are pressed into the bottom end portion of the mast. After leveling or alignment a welding torch is applied to the exposed bottom surfaces of the anchors 19 and the mast 15 and particularly to the interstices therebetween which causes all the parts to fuse together into a rigid assembly which is extremely strong and durable.

It should be apparent that the above construction does not close off any part of the bore 26 in the mast 15 above the legs so that this portion of the bore is available for the reception of a heavy stud, not shown, which may be bushed within the bore and be used to support the chair proper or other article to be supported, regardless of whether or not the supporting means is to include a tilting feature.

It should now be apparent that I have provided an improved method of making a furniture supporting base or pedestal which accomplishes the object initially set out above. Once the two dies are made for the extrusion of the two sections 14 and 15 the bases or pedestals can be very rapidly produced in small or large volume a extremely low cost while yet providing an end product which is vastly improved not only in design and appearance but also in the mechanical attributes of rigidity, strength and durability. It is recognized that some minor variations may be made in the above specifically described product and method Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, and reference should accordingly be had to the appended claims in determining the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The method of making a furniture pedestal comprising the steps of extruding a tubular metal section, cutting off a discrete length of the extruded metal section to form a mast, longitudinally slotting the side Wall of the mast at a plurality of circumferentially spaced points beginning at one end of the mast, extruding a slab-like second metal section having an enlargement along one of its side edges, transversely cutting off discrete short lengths of said second section to form the legs of the pedestal, and slideably assembling said legs to said mast by positioning said enlargements with in the mast While the adjacent Webs of said legs are received within said slots.

2. The method of claim 1, including the further step of extruding said second section With a continuous enlargement along its other edge, and providing said second UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,582,040 1/1952 Kammritz 29-150 3,151,830 10/1964 Giacomini 248188.7 3,186,064 6/1965 Buhrmaster 29-150 3,188,033 6/1965 Grooves 248188.7

JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner.

THOMAS H. EAGER, Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A FURNITURE PEDESTAL COMPRISING THE STEPS OF EXTRUDING A TUBULAR METAL SECTION, CUTTING OFF A DISCRETE LENGTH OF THE EXTRUDED METAL SECTION TO FORM A MAST, LONGITUDINALLY SLOTTING THE SIDE WALL OF THE MAST AT A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED POINTS BEGINNING AT ONE END OF THE MAST, EXTRUDING A SLAB-LIKE SECOND METAL SECTION HAVING AN ENLARGEMENT ALONG ONE OF ITS SIDE EDGES, TRANSVERSELY CUTTING OFF DISCRETE SHORT LENGTHS OF SAID SECOND SECTION TO FORM THE LEGS OF THE PEDESTAL, AND SLIDEABLY ASSEMBLING SAID LEGS TO SAID MAST BY POSITIONING SAID ENLARGEMENTS WITH IN THE MAST WHILE THE ADJACENT WEBS OF SAID LEGS ARE RECEIVED WITHIN SAID SLOTS. 